• More than 22 years of diverse working experience in areas of democratic governance and sustainable development, with international organisations and the UN—including over 11 years with UNDP;
• Member of the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT) Roster;
• Experienced in close interaction/coordination with Parliament Secretariats, Committees and lawmakers;
• Contributed in efforts for introducing electoral reforms in Pakistan through national and sub-national level stakeholder dialogues resulting in proposals for Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms. The proposals served as a catalyst shaping the Elections Act 2017. Various women-specific provisions were included in the law paving the way for enhanced participation of women in elections and political processes;
• Vast experience in organizing events involving parliamentarians and secretariats, including seminars, conferences, trainings workshops, discussion forums, public hearings for committees and other high-profile events with significant potential for impact in terms of legislative, policy and governance reforms;
• Practical experience of working in communications and advocacy positions for projects/programs promoting women participation in electoral and legislative processes. Experience in legislative reforms in specific areas concerning SDGs and human equality;
• Expertise in reporting in line with the purpose/utility of the documents. Especially, have been handling internal and external (donor) reporting for various programmes;
• Effective skills in situational analysis especially anticipating potential challenges and applying appropriate tools/measures for their solution;
• Well-versed in developing programme documents including project designs/outlines, concept papers for new and upcoming interventions, terms of reference (ToRs) for engaging individuals/organisations;
• Vast experience in assisting project evaluation missions in the programme areas and their meetings with project partners/stakeholders;
• Coordinator for implementation of projects on rule of law, human rights, democratic governance etc. in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The project interventions included Public Opinion Surveys, Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews and other engagement activities involving lawmakers, civil society, youth/women groups, academia, ulema, legal fraternity and others;
• Coordinated as lead resource in establishing a state of the art library & research facility at the Pakistan Senate;
• Author/co-author of several publications including communications and advocacy strategies for different organisations (such as Parliament of Pakistan and Standing Committees), as well as various projects, training modules booklets brochures besides performing long and short-term editorial tasks for regular publications of the organisation(s)-concerned;
• Pioneered the creation of Women’s Parliamentary Caucuses (WPCs), Young Parliamentarians’ Forums (YPFs), and Minority (Non-majority) Parliamentary Caucuses (MPCs) within the legislative houses of Pakistan to provide specific platforms to likeminded legislators to work together on relevant issues. These were the part of efforts to enhance the role of lawmakers from women, youth, and non-Muslim (minorities) community in the parliamentary and legislative business.
• Established Parliamentary Task Force(s) on SDGs at the federal and provincial legislatures in Pakistan to ensure a closer role and ownership of the Parliament in the implementation process of SDGs. The cross-party forums provide platform to lawmakers to scrutinize the implementation, and help remove the legislative, policy and other gaps as well as challenges that might affect the implementation of SDGs at the local level(s).
• One of the proudest contributions in the field of gender mainstreaming is that I am one of the pioneers who introduced the concept of and the establishment of the WPCs at the Parliament and Provincial (sub-national) Assemblies of Pakistan;
• Technical assistance to and mobilization of lawmakers belonging to marginalized segments of the society—including women, non-Muslim lawmakers (called Minorities), youth in the introduction of key legislation at the federal and provincial levels. The laws include, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa HIV/AIDS Prevention and Awareness Bill, preventing early marriages of children especially , anti-harassment Act at work places, laws on inclusion of girl child in the inheritance rights;
• Planned and implemented a number of activities for the Parliament of Pakistan with Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) while working with UN and more recently with the Senate of Pakistan;
• Led a number of research studies on identifying Legislative and Policy Gaps on SDG Goal-4 (Quality Education), Goal-5 (Gender Equality), Goal-13 (Climate Action), and Goal-16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) for the assistance of lawmakers so as to provide basis for legislative reforms on those specific subjects;
• Facilitated and provided expert input and assistance in developing Business Continuity Assessment Studies and Committee Guides for the Senate, and Balochistan and KP Assemblies to remain functional during COVID-19 pandemic and other crisis situations;
• Established and led an in-House Think Tank with in the Senate of Pakistan named Parliamentary Development Unit (PDU) to provide strategic advice to the leadership on institutional partnerships;
• Successfully implemented IEC campaigns and other persuasive communication techniques for polio eradication and routine immunization in some of the most volatile areas.